The New Energy Jobs Creation Act is signed into law

Monday, June 14 2010

New state law to alter local energy finance district discussions

Glenwood Springs Post Independent
John Stroud
Saturday, June 12, 2010

A statewide clean energy financing bill signed into law Friday by Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter will change the scope of a public hearing scheduled later this month before Garfield County commissioners that was intended for the county to consider setting up a local energy improvements district.

Ritter signed House Bill 1328, known as the New Energy Jobs Creation Act, along with a number of other clean energy bills, at a ceremony in Denver Friday afternoon.

Sponsored by state Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village, and Rep. Joe Miklosi, D-Denver, the jobs bill sets up the nation's first statewide Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) district, called the Colorado New Energy Improvement District. It will offer clean energy financing to homeowners throughout Colorado by allowing them to add a special assessment to their property taxes to pay off the cost of the improvements over time.

The bill allows a county to participate in the statewide district, rather than setting up local districts to manage the program. Under state legislation approved in 2008, a county would have had to create its own separate district and seek voter approval to issue its own bonds to finance it.

“This new legislation gives counties the advantage of participating in a larger, more efficient finance program,” according to a press release issued Friday by the Garfield New Energy Communities Initiative (GNECI).

The bill establishes a nine-member governing board and authorizes the district to issue up to $800 million in bonds to capitalize the loan program.

“This will make it easier for counties in Colorado to set up clean energy financing,” said Shelley Kaup, chair of the GNECI Advisory Board. “The Advisory Board would like to see Garfield County to be among the first counties to opt in, so Garfield County homeowners can participate in the statewide loan program.”

Last month, county commissioners began discussing the possible establishment of a Clean Energy Finance District and related energy loan program. It would have allowed the county to seek voter approval to issue bonds against federal and state grants or private funding sources to operate the local loan program.

Homeowners could then apply for fixed-interest loans for qualified energy improvements, such as renewable energy installations and a variety of energy efficiency improvements. Loans would paid back over a period of time as a special assessment on the borrower's property tax bill.

GNECI had already been planning for the June 21 hearing before the Garfield County commissioners, but the nature of that discussion will now be a little different, said Alice Laird, executive director of Clean Energy Economies for the Region (CLEER), one of the partners in GNECI.

“We have been actively supporting both efforts, the preferred approach is the statewide district,” she said. “Counties still have to opt in, and we will be urging the commissioners to be one of first counties to sign up to join the statewide district.”

GNECI would continue to take the lead on a local marketing program if the county signs on, Laird said. The organization will also work to extend the state program to include the commercial sector.

For now, the loan program will only be offered to residential property owners. The county-level district would have provided financing to both residential and commercial property owners.

Through the Colorado New Energy Improvement District, homeowners will be able to borrow money for energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements to their property, and pay the debt back over a period of up to 20 years on their annual property tax bill. Only those homeowners who borrow from the fund will see the added assessment line on their tax bill.